Canis lupus familiaris
Il cane (Canis lupus familiaris Linnaeus, 1758) è un
mammifero appartenente all'ordine Carnivora, della
famiglia dei canidi.
Con l'avvento dell'addomesticamento si è distinto
dal lupo.
L'addomesticazione del cane da parte dell'uomo ha origini
antichissime. I più antichi resti fossili di cane in uno
stanziamento umano sono stati rinvenuti in una tomba
natufiana, e risalgono a 11,000-12,000 anni fa.
Si suppone però che l'origine del rapporto fra le due specie si
collochi più indietro nel tempo, fra 20,000 e 36,000 anni fa
Ho tanto freddo, tanta fame … Laggiù c’è un accampamento di umani attorno ad un fuoco …
Cosa potrà mai accadermi di male se mi avvicino?
Cosa accadde realmente …
Circa 30000 anni dopo!
1. Olfaction mediates the perception of volatile
chemicals.
2. Variations in the precise structure of individual
odorant molecules, concentrations of those
molecules, and specific combinations of
components in a mixture of odorant molecules
provide crucial information about the surrounding
world.
The nose, the main olfactory organ, consists of multiple olfactory
subsystems:
1. Main olfactory epithelium (MOE), composed of two types of cells:
• microvillar cells
• olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs)
2. Vomeronasal organ (VNO), containinig:
• two olfactory subsystems (apical and basal)
• two classes of vomeronasal receptors (V1Rs and V2Rs)
Le capacità olfattive dei cani sono di
fatto circa 10.000 – 100.000 più
sviluppate rispetto all’uomo.
Parametro Uomo Cane
Dimensione bulbo olfattivo ~1 cm ~3 cm
Estensione dell’epitelio olfattivo 3-4 cm2 18-150 cm2
Numero di recettori olfattivi 5-6 Milioni 150-300 Milioni
Geni che codificano per i recettori 350 1100
TOP TEN1. Bloodhound2. Beagle3. German Shepherd4. Dachshund5. Harrier6. Redbone Coonhound7. Bluetick Coonhound8. English Foxhound9. Labrador Retriever10. Golden Retriever
To illustrate the tremendous
canine olfactory sensitivity, a dog
could detect the equivalent of
1 drop of liquid in 20 Olympic-
size (2500 ft3) swimming pools
x 20
Amyl Acetate (MW) = 130.19 Da
LoD = 1.14 ppt = 0.00000000000114 g/L = 8.76 fmol/L
Dogs are often called “humans’ best friend” because they fit in with
human life. Dogs can help humans in many ways; they can be:
- Simple pets
- Guard dogs
- Hunting dogs
- Herding dogs
- Guide dogs (e.g., for blind people)
- Police dogs
- Sniffer (detection) dogs
Sniffer (detection) dogs
A (sniffer) detection dog is trained to use its senses to detect many
substances, such as:
- Foods
- Lost humans
- Explosives
- Illegal drugs
- Wildlife scat
- Currency
- Contraband electronics (e.g., illicit mobile phones)
…
- Human diseases
Sniffer (detection) dogs
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Sniffer (detection) dogs
Sniffer (detection) dogs
Sniffer (detection) dogs
Sniffer (detection) dogs
• Cancers
• Diabetes
• Seizures
• Parkinson’s disease
• Narcolepsy
• Migraine
• …
Dogs have something called “ neophilia ”, which means they are attracted to new
and interesting odors. The diseases they have been capable to detect so far are:
Dr Claire Guest, CEO of Hull and East
Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust said that "If
this trial is positive, the potential is there for a
quick, non-invasive test for detecting
colorectal cancer by smelling urine samples,
which could encourage far higher rates of
testing and therefore early diagnosis"
Dogs can be trained to detect prostate
cancer with 91% sensitivity and
specificity by smelling urine, thus
surpassing the diagnostic
performance of most prostate cancer
biomarkers currently available
(88%)
(94%)
(88%)
(81%)
• Of the 29 subjects who owned dogs, 9 (31%)
reported that their dog responded to a seizure
• These dogs remained close to their human either
standing or lying alongside them, sometimes licking
the person’s face or hands during and immediately
after the seizure
• Of the nine dogs reported to respond, 3 (10%) also
alert their human to an impending seizure
Interventions and outcome measures.
Participants who experience migraine episodes and live with a dog
completed an online survey asking on demographics, migraines and
dog's behavior before or during migraine episodes.
Results.
A recognized change in the dog's behavior prior to or during the
initial phase of migraine was endorsed by 53.7% participants
Dog alerting behavior before symptoms of migraine would begin,
with changes usually noticed within 2 hours before the onset of initial
migraine symptoms, was identified by 57.3% participants.
54
What the future holds?
56
• For the test, trained dogs had to distinguish between
socks from children with malaria parasites and socks
from uninfected children.
• They were trained to sniff each sample and to freeze
if they thought they detected malaria, or move on if
they did not.
• The dogs correctly identified 70% of infected children
and 90% of uninfected children.
In conclusione … Cos’è che scrivono stì
ignoranti? Che in lab
son più bravi di noi???
Ah, ah, ah!!!
To date, a number of companies around the
world, both not-for-profit or for-profit, are
providing highly trained dogs with proven
abilities.
Due to available evidence and plausible
biological bases, broadening the use of these
dogs for a myriad of medical purposes should
be seen as reasonable.
The canine sense of smell outperforms
current analytical devices, with dogs able to
detect trace amounts of several compounds.
However the canine detection of diseases is
still a “ black-box technology ” - i.e., it is not
known to which volatile compounds or their
combination the dogs react.
The “olfactory fingerprint” loop
Olfactory fingerprint
Compound(s)
identification
Human
diseaseVolatilomeNew diagnostic
test(s)
Specific
dog training